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sly

adjective

Synonyms and Antonyms of sly

1 clever at attaining one's ends by indirect and often deceptive means
  • The movie pairs a sly, dissembling ex-con with an upstanding, straight-arrow cop.
Synonyms of sly

artful, beguiling, cagey (also cagy), crafty, cunning, cute, designing, devious, foxy, guileful, scheming, shrewd, slick, subtle, tricky, wily
Words Related to sly

astute, facile, glib, sharp

crooked, deceitful, deceptive, dishonest, fraudulent, insinuating, knavish, Machiavellian, oblique, serpentine, shady, shifty, slippery, sneaky, treacherous, underhand, underhanded, unscrupulous

backhanded, double-dealing, hypocritical, insincere, left-handed, mealy, mealymouthed, smooth-tongued, two-faced

circuitous, circular, roundabout

clandestine, concealed, covert, furtive, hugger-mugger, secret, stealthy, surreptitious, undercover

calculating, plotting
Near Antonyms of sly

obvious, open, patent, plain, public, unconcealed

aboveboard, candid, direct, forthright, frank, honest, natural, outspoken, plainspoken, real, simple, sincere, straightforward, unaffected, unpretending, unpretentious, unvarnished

childlike, impressionable, simpleminded, unsophisticated, unworldly

unforced, unstudied

trustful, trusting
Antonyms of sly

artless, guileless, ingenuous, innocent, undesigning
2 given to acting in secret and to concealing one's intentions
  • Why, you sly fellow! I had no idea you were planning my birthday party!
Synonyms of sly

furtive, shady, shifty, slippery, sneaking, sneaky, stealthy
Words Related to sly

artful, crafty, cunning, devious, foxy, guileful, slick, wily

close, closemouthed, reticent, secretive

clandestine, covert, dark

deceitful, deceiving, deceptive, devious, duplicitous, trickish, tricky, underhand, underhanded

cheating, crooked, defrauding, dishonest, dissembling, double-dealing, knavish, two-faced

lying, mendacious, untrustworthy, untruthful

insidious, perfidious, serpentine, treacherous
Near Antonyms of sly

aboveboard, forthright, plainspoken, straightforward

candid, direct, foursquare, frank, open, plain

honest, trustworthy, truthful
3 tending to or exhibiting reckless playfulness
  • a sly sense of humor
Synonyms of sly

arch, devilish, elvish, impish, knavish, mischievous, pixieish, prankish, puckish, rascally, roguish, waggish
Words Related to sly

antic, coltish, coy, frisky, frolicsome, kittenish, playful, sportive

gay, happy, lighthearted, whimsical

energetic, lively, spirited, sprightly

artful, crafty, cunning, trickish, tricky, wily

misbehaving, naughty, troublemaking

pestering, riling, teasing
Near Antonyms of sly

grave, grim, sedate, sober, solemn, staid, stern

Synonym Discussion of sly

sly, cunning, crafty, wily, tricky, foxy, artful, slick mean attaining or seeking to attain one's ends by guileful or devious means. sly implies furtiveness, lack of candor, and skill in concealing one's aims and methods.
    • a sly corporate raider
cunning suggests the inventive use of sometimes limited intelligence in overreaching or circumventing.
    • the cunning fox avoided the trap
crafty implies cleverness and subtlety of method.
    • a crafty lefthander
wily implies skill and deception in maneuvering.
    • the wily fugitive escaped the posse
tricky is more likely to suggest shiftiness and unreliability than skill in deception and maneuvering.
    • a tricky political operative
foxy implies a shrewd and wary craftiness usually involving devious dealing.
    • a foxy publicity man planting stories
artful implies indirectness in dealing and often connotes sophistication or cleverness.
    • elicited the information by artful questioning
slick emphasizes smoothness and guile.
    • slick operators selling time-sharing

Learn More about sly

  1. Dictionary: Definition of sly Spanish Central: Translation of sly Nglish: Translation of sly for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of sly for Arabic speakers

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